Jake Musial '11
Digging into the PastAs a kid growing up in Manhattan, Jake Musial’s mom would take him to many of the museums in the city—The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Natural History, and others. Now a senior history major at GMC, Jake recently had the chance to reconnect with one of his childhood haunts, this time studying and cataloging the museum’s treasures. Last summer, Jake interned as a lab technician in the North American Archaeology lab of The Museum of Natural History. His main responsibility was to sort through samples of midden material—essentially old garbage, off of the coast of Georgia, collected from the Late Archaic — a time period ranging from about 5,900 to 3,200 years ago. “My job was to pick out artifacts and faunal material from the shell samples. Over the course of the summer I found a number of interesting artifacts ranging from pottery shards, a bone pin, to pieces of alligator skull,” he says. As someone who is passionately interested in history and prehistory, being able to, quite literally, dig into a piece of it was a great experience for Jake. “History, by definition is really the study of written documents, but that only covers so much time period. For any culture that didn’t have writing, you have to use historical archaeology,” Jake says. Since coming to GMC, Jake has taken advantage of classes that fuel his interests. “Every time I take a history class here I become enthusiastic about a different era of history — I sort of go through different phases. I’ve had my Roman phase, European prehistory phase, medieval Russia phase—I’m not picky,” Jake says. The summer before last Jake attended a field school in Ireland for six weeks where he worked on a bronze-age roundhouse. The experience taught him about Irish history and prehistory and some basic archaeology techniques. “I got to go on some pretty cool tours of the passage tombs and things like that,” he says. Another class with Prof. Mark Dailey (sociology) gave him and a few other students the chance to explore archaeology through the lens of cultural anthropology and human prehistory. Playing music also helps Jake stay connected with history, but in a different way. He took a year off in between high school and college to record an album with his father’s band, and he’s starting a Thursday “blues night” at the local pub. He’s also been involved with a number of different GMC bands during his time here, including the Bad Assets, the opener for Spring Concert 2010. It’s a theme evolving in Jake’s life—studying history through a variety of lenses. Whether it’s from a textbook, a stimulating class discussion, playing a few blues riffs on his guitar, or digging straight into the ground for clues, Jake has been on a mission to learn more about the world by studying the people who have inhabited it. By Chad Skiles ‘12 Front Page |
  
WEEK AT A GLANCE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 Ayurveda Consultation 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wellness Center Whitewater Day Trip: Registration Begins 10 a.m., GreenMAP Adirondacks Rock Climbing: Registration Begins 10 a.m., GreenMAP Sea Kayaking the Maine Coast: Registration Begins 10 a.m., GreenMAP Open Gym Session 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Gymnasium Lap Swim Session 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Pool Take 10 Discussion Group 5:30 - 6:30 p.m., Wellness Center Zumba 7 - 8 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 Open Gym Session 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Gymnasium Shakti Tribal Dance: Advanced I 4 - 5:30 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Shakti Tribal Dance: Intermediate 5:30 - 6:30 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Open Swim Session 5 - 6 p.m., Waldron Pool Spirituality Club Meeting 6 - 7 p.m., Chapel Zazen Meditation 7 - 7:30 p.m., Chapel WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Academic Skills Workshop: Balanced Lifestyles 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., Special Collections Reading Room, Griswold Library Graduate School Fair 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Withey Lobby Lap Swim Session 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Pool Massage Therapy & Reflexology 12 p.m. - 8 p.m., Wellness Center Faculty Colloquium: Paul Hancock 12 p.m. - 1 p.m., Terrace 124 Kripalu Yoga (vigorous) 1 - 2:30 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Academic Skills Workshop: Writing 3 - 4 p.m., Special Collections Reading Room, Griswold Library Poultney Community Garden Work Day 3 - 4 p.m., Rear of Poultney High School Sunset Yoga Meet at 5 p.m. at the GreenMAP office Shakti Tribal Dance: Advanced II 5:30 - 7 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Lap Swim Session 6 - 8 p.m., Waldron Pool SOAR Workshop: Creative Marketing 6 p.m., Gorge Atrium Shakti Tribal Dance: Beginner 7 - 8 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Zazen Meditation 7 - 7:30 p.m., Chapel Shakti Tribal Dance: Advanced III 8 - 9:30 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Open Chapel 8 - 10:30 p.m., Chapel THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Cerridwen Farm Stand 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Withey Hall Lobby Open Gym Session 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Gymnasium Lap Swim Session 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Pool Massage Therapy & Reflexology 12 p.m. - 8 p.m. Wellness Center Academic Skills Workshop: Substance Use 3 - 4 p.m., Special Collections Reading Room, Griswold Library Kripalu Yoga (gentle) 4 - 5 p.m, Wellness Center Intermediate Vinyasa Flow Yoga 5:30 - 6:30 p.m., Bogue Movement Studio Open Swim Session 6 - 8 p.m., Waldron Pool FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 Sea Kayaking Lake Champlain See GreenMAP for details. Surfing Jenness Beach See GreenMAP for details. Open Gym Session 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Gymnasium Lap Swim Session 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Waldron Pool Open Swim Session 6 - 8 p.m., Waldron Pool Theater: An Evening with Poe 6:45 p.m. Pre-show, Ackley Hall 7 p.m. Performance SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 Camel's Hump Hike 8 a.m., See GreenMAP for details. Vt Academy Arts & Science Conference 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., The Gorge Theater: An Evening with Poe 6:45 p.m. Pre-show, Ackley Hall 7 p.m. Performance SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 Open Swim Session 6 - 8 p.m., Waldron Pool Theater: An Evening with Poe 6:45 p.m. Pre-show, Ackley Hall 7 p.m. Performance Open Chapel 7 - 10:30 p.m., Chapel |